Tearful reunion for hero and family of boy who almost drowned

As soon as the door to the small Centretown apartment opened, Jesse Haw was instantly embraced by a grateful mother.

It was a bittersweet reunion Monday evening, two days after Haw pulled a 12-year-old boy from the Ottawa River’s strong current and another man died.

“You’re a godsend,” said Cynthia Peralta, the mother of the boy, Laurent Peralta.

“It’s still hard to believe. It’s a very horrifying experience, but knowing someone is there ready to risk his life to save someone else drowning is … I can’t describe the feeling,” said Peralta, her voice tapering off as she reached across the room to hug Haw for a second time, leaving tears of gratitude on his shoulder.

“I did what I felt I needed to do. It happened so quick, I just reacted,” Haw murmured back, after a round of hugs from the family.

Laurent’s father, sister, cousin and aunt lined the wall of the small living room, their eyes wet as Peralta conveyed the family’s thanks. She stood in the kitchen doorway facing her son, who was sitting beside the man she calls his hero.

Mar Peralta hugs the man who saved his son’s life from drowning, Jesse Haw (L) as family members look on. Jesse saved 12 year old Laurent Peralta from drowning.

Jean Levac /
Ottawa Citizen

Two days earlier, at about 7 p.m., Haw had been treading water, holding the boy and trying to hold on to Michael Lumahang while attempting to backstroke the pair to safety. The weight, he said, was too much.

Lumahang lived in the same Cambridge Street apartment complex as the Peraltas and had been on a picnic with his neighbours. He and Laurent had gone to the edge of the river to fish, and somehow Laurent ended up in the water, too far from shore. Lumahang tried to save his neighbour’s son, but was also swept up in the strong current near the Champlain Bridge. The body of the 39-year-old, who was also hailed as a hero by the Peraltas and his own family, was recovered early Sunday morning.

Peralta said the wound was still fresh — both mother and son have nightmares — but she wanted to thank Haw in person.

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The 24-year-old had been on the shore having a picnic with his girlfriend Saturday. In a matter of moments, the pair he observed fishing knee-level were suddenly neck-deep some 25 metres from shore. Haw said it took 15 seconds for his instincts to kick in and he shucked his T-shirt, shorts and flip flops, roughing his feet on the rocks on the run in.

It didn’t take long to reach the two, but by then he estimates they were more than 50 metres from shore, and he was already tired.

“The current was really strong,” he said. Haw remembers trying to tell the boy to calm down and kick his legs, to relax him so he wouldn’t panic.

“I thought I would die,” said Laurent, turning to thank Haw, who put a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“I calmed down a lot, then I just started kicking hard, trying to swim,” said Laurent, who was treated by paramedics for mild hypothermia. “It felt like it was winter.”

Haw said he collapsed on the beach afterward, and that’s when the cold settled in. The last couple days have been tough, but he’s thankful he could meet the family again.

“It’s a lot to take in,” said Haw, who just graduated from Algonquin College’s international business management program.

Jesse Haw exchange his contact info with the Peralta family. Jesse saved their 12 year old Laurent Peralta.

Jean Levac /
Ottawa Citizen

Outside the home, Haw explained he is uncomfortable when friends and family tell him he’s a hero.

“It could have been three people out there,” he said softly. There was a point when he was struggling through the icy river that he remembers looking at the shoreline, and saw no one else in the water.

“I thought, ‘There’s nobody coming out here to save me.’ Fighting against that current, the adrenalin started pumping and another gear kicked in,” said Haw, who competed in high school water polo for four years.

“How I felt coming back in, when I started to run out of energy and get scared myself, I don’t want to have to be a hero again. It’s scary.”

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